Beatlebone

A searing, surreal novel that bleeds fantasy and reality — and Beatles fandom — from one of literature’s most striking contemporary voices, author of the international sensation City of Bohane.

It is 1978, and John Lennon has escaped New York City to try to find the island off the west coast of Ireland he bought nine years prior. Leaving behind domesticity, his approaching forties, his inability to create, and his memories of his parents, he sets off to find calm in the comfortable silence of isolation. But when he puts himself in the hands of a shape-shifting driver full of Irish charm and dark whimsy, what ensues can only be termed a magical mystery tour. Beatlebone is a remarkable feat of narrative, language, and literary imagination that marries the most improbable element to the most striking effect. It is a book that only Kevin Barry would attempt, let alone succeed in pulling off — a Hibernian high-wire act of courage, nerve, and great beauty.